The next month is just an amazing time of year when sports fans can feast on a smorgasbord of delights – college and pro football hit full stride, NASCAR is in the middle of the Chase for the Cup, professional hockey and college and pro basketball get ignited, and Major League Baseball shifts into “Fall Classic†mode with the playoffs and the World Series.
We tried to have some good baseball conversations on our message boards this summer; and, we are hoping to grow that conversation/coverage in the future. As we are moving into Division Series, we’ve opened this thread for some conversation of which we wanted to make our baseball fans aware.
Personally, it was a very good year for my selfish interests and the playoffs shape up for even more fun since two of least favorite teams are participating – the Yankees and Giants. I’ll be rooting very hard for the Braves, Reds, Rangers & Twins in the Division Series. In fact, other than the Houston Astros (who gave a little reason for optimism next year with their play in the last two months of the season) – the Braves, Reds and Rangers are actually my three favorite baseball teams!
Cursory Braves fans my enjoy this link to a 3 minute playoff preview video. Our own LRM offered the following:
Braves vs. Giants
Lowe vs. Lincecum
Hanson vs. Cain
Hudson vs. Sanchez
All three of these match ups are intriguing. After tough stretches, both Lincecum and Lowe were unhittable in September. The Braves won the regular season series 4-3, but pitching dominated the series for both teams.
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Reds vs. Phillies
Volquez vs. Halladay
Arroyo vs. Oswalt
Cueto vs. Hamels
The Phils three-man rotation is very obviously built for the postseason, and the Phils won the regular season series 5-2.
I expect all four NL teams will use three-man rotations.
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Rangers vs. Rays
Lee vs. Price
Wilson vs. Shields
Lewis vs. Garza
Hunter vs. Davis
Game 1 looks like a beautiful postseason pitching duel, but I expect a barrage of runs in this series. The Rays won the regular season series 4-2.
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Yankees vs. Twins
Sabathia vs. Liriano
TBD vs. Pavano
TBD vs. Duensing
Burnett vs. Blackburn
The Yankees have pitching issues and were awful down the stretch, but they won the regular season series 4-2.
